Peeblesshire Beekeepers Association

Peeblesshire Beekeepers Association

Apiary Visits

Peeblesshire Beekeepers Association > News > Events > Apiary Visits

Association Apiary Inspection Reports 2024

Sat 21st April

Notes from Peter, Scott, Wilma and David.

Inspections were done as part of the beginners in person day. We got the best beekeeping day of the year so far and were able to have a good look at all the hives. Temperature was about 13C with good sunshine. All hives had bees but there was a quite a contrast in how each were faring so far in this cold wet spring – see below.

Stand A Position 1 Hive No 1

Queen found and marked red. No sealed brood but there were small patches of eggs and larva. There was pollen and nectar stores in this hive too.

Stand A Position 2 Hive No 2

Yellow queen seen, it was a good strong colony covering 6/7 frames of sealed brood with plenty pollen and nectar stored.

Stand B Position 3 Hive No 3

Red queen seen, not much brood, quite patchy on 4 frames. A lot of drone brood and drones. Will need to check queen starts laying well. There is a super box under the brood box but it was not inspected.

Stand B Position 4 Hive No 4

Red queen seen, BIAS and good brood pattern over 5 frames . 

Bees well well natured. Lots of pollen being brought in and plenty of stores. Mouse guard removed.

There are 2 super boxes under the brood box but they were not inspected.

Stand C Position 5 Hive No 5

Had some spotty drone brood, so it’s either a drone laying queen or workers. They were bringing some pollen in and the bees were calm.

Stand C Position 6 Hive No 7

Didn’t have any brood, saw queen marked yellow. They were bringing pollen in and the bees were calm.

All hives had mouseguards removed.

All hives had new yellow correx varroa trays added. Next time – check the varroa drop.

Possible jobs for next time.

  • Remove super boxes that are under the brood boxes
  • Check varroa drop

Wed 17th April

Notes from Wilma:-

Despite the cold weather we had a lovely afternoon at Barns today. 

Whilst it was lovely and calm and relatively warm at the apiary I felt that we would be giving the bees too much work to warm the hive back up again with the temps due to drop again tonight so we didn’t do any full inspections. 

We cleaned what varroa floors were there, removed the wool insulation and replaced tubs of fondant.  

Thanks to everyone who made the effort to come along and help, it was lovely catching up with you all. 

Apiary Report 18th Sept

Elaine, Wilma and Peter visited the association apiary on Wednesday 18th.

The main job was to put Apivar strips in for varroa treatment.

For the records we used 500mg strips – Lot: 190344, Expiry: 02/2021

Minimum date for removal will be 30th October, Max date 27th November.

Report

Hive 2

Varroa count 4 (in 4 days) = rate 1 per day

Super was about half filled with stores – some uncapped. This was moved to below the brood box. Queen excluder was removed. 2 x apivar strips in brood box. Crown board and large feeder on top with syrup.

Hive 3

Varroa count approx 60 (in 4 days) = rate 15 per day

2 x apivar strips in brood box. Feeder refilled.

Hive 4

Varroa count 4 (in 4 days) = rate 1 per day

2 x apivar strips in brood box. Feeder refilled.

Hive 5

Varroa count 1 (in 4 days) = rate 0.25 per day

2 x apivar strips in brood box. Feeder refilled.

Nuc 3

1 x apivar strip applied. Feeder refilled

Black Queen Nuc

1 x apivar strip applied. Feeder refilled

Association Apiary Visit

Wed 18th Sept 2019 1.30pm

(Confirmed)

Leader: Peter

Exact date and time will be confirmed by email.

Please contact Mandy Tel: 01721 720563 Mob: 07563 185993 beforehand for details so you can be notified of any changes to the schedule due to weather or other circumstances.

Our regular visit to inspect the association colonies.

All welcome, particularly beginners.

Clean beesuits, gloves and footwear are required. Suits are available to borrow on request.



Apiary Visit Report

Sat 7th September

We had a good visit to the association apiary. A few regulars and some welcome guests turned up including some junior bee enthusiasts. Scroll down for the photos.

Thanks to Janet for the notes.

Inspection Notes from Apiary visit 7th September 2019

Hive 4

  • Queen not seen.
  • Brood box – three frames with small amount of sealed brood.
  • Lots of bees.
  • One super with lots of sealed honey, another super with a smaller amount of sealed and unsealed honey.

Action taken:

  • Super with smaller amount of honey moved to below the brood box.
  • Clearing board put in between brood box and super with sealed honey (super above brood box).
  • Queen excluder removed.

Next visit:

  • Take top super off.
  • Feed with syrup.

Hive 2

Queen, eggs and brood seen.

Actions taken:

  • Frames with sealed honey moved to the sides, and unsealed frames moved towards middle.

Hive 3

Two supers, both partially filled. Third, empty super on top to accommodate fondant feed.

Actions taken:

  • Fondant feed (almost all gone) removed.
  • Best frames from both supers transferred to one super. This was left above brood box with excluder removed and replaced with a clearing board.
  • Less filled frames put in the other super which was then placed under the brood box.
  • The empty spare super (from the fondant feed) left on top of the clearing board).

Hive 5

No super. Queen seen. Some sealed brood – no eggs or unsealed brood. Frames very full of stores.

Nuc 3

Queen seen – still laying.

Actions taken:

  • Syrup added.

Black Queen Nuc

Lots of sealed brood, larvae and eggs. Queen seen.

Action taken:

  • Reservoir at the side of the nuc filled with syrup and stick added for bees to climb on.

Update Sun 8th

Richard and Peter removed the cleared supers from Hives 3 and 4 and replaced with feeders in an empty super as eke. Feeders were filled with syrup.

A swarm has taken up residence rather near the storage sheds
Tabitha and Daisy enjoyed their visit to the bees.
These are building up from a native bee mating nuc.
A native dark bee queen courtesy of Kate Atchley laying well in the nuc.
Feeding syrup.

Association Apiary Visit

7th Sept 2019 1.30pm

(Confirmed)

Leader: Wilma and Peter

Exact date and time will be confirmed by email.

Please contact Mandy Tel: 01721 720563 Mob: 07563 185993 beforehand for details so you can be notified of any changes to the schedule due to weather or other circumstances.

Our regular visit to inspect the association colonies.

All welcome, particularly beginners.

Clean beesuits, gloves and footwear are required. Suits are available to borrow on request.

Dark Bee Queen Rearing

Here are some photos from Wilma showing some the action from this seasons attempts at raising native dark queens from the associations native bee stock. The hard work here has mainly been done by Wilma, Linda and David.

These were taken when they were moving the black amm queen that was mated at Kate Atchleys apiary from an apidea into a  nuc box.

Kate delivering the Apideas with the mated queens
Making up the nuc
Ready for the new queen
The queen was mated in the Apidea box.
Dark bees on the comb
The native amm queen
The queen being attended to
Building up the stocks in nuc boxes

Honey Picnic Photos

We enjoyed the afternoon at Wilma and Jocks heather honey site. The weather was mixed as the photos will show. The bees looked good and had produced some really nice frames of heather honey. The picnic got rained on but since its Scotland so we carried on regardless.

Heather Apiary Site
Hives at the Heather
Inspecting the bees at the heather
A Good Frame of Heather Honey
A damp but successful picnic
Honey Picnic in the Rain

Honey Picnic

Sunday 1st September 1.30pm

The annual honey picnic will take place this Sunday at Wilma and Jocks apiary in the Manor Valley.

If you need directions to the site contact Mandy.

This is great chance to see how bees are managed to collect heather honey.

Weather permitting we will do an inspection and then have a picnic.

Contributions to the picnic will be very welcome and come prepared for any weather.

Association Apiary Visit

28th August 2019 1.30pm

(Provisional)

Leader: To be confirmed

Exact date and time will be confirmed by email.

Please contact Mandy Tel: 01721 720563 Mob: 07563 185993 beforehand for details so you can be notified of any changes to the schedule due to weather or other circumstances.

Our regular visit to inspect the association colonies.

All welcome, particularly beginners.

Clean beesuits, gloves and footwear are required. Suits are available to borrow on request.